Eucalypt leaf litter impairs growth and development of amphibian larvae, inhibits their antipredator responses and alters their physiology

Burraco, Pablo; Iglesias‐Carrasco, Maider; Cabido, Carlos; Gómez-Mestre, Iván

doi:10.1093/conphys/coy066

Cited by 22 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…They are only one component of a suite of physiological and behavioural responses to stress [91]. For example, chronic stress increases glucose levels [92] and oxidative stress [93], and reduces immune responses [94,95], body condition [12], and reproductive output [21,22]. Each of these responses could have negative consequences for an individual's reproductive output and, by extension, population viability.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress in the city: meta-analysis indicates no overall evidence for stress in urban vertebrates

et al. 2020

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As cities continue to grow it is increasingly important to understand the long-term responses of wildlife to urban environments. There have been increased efforts to determine whether urbanization imposes chronic stress on wild animals, but empirical evidence is mixed. Here, we conduct a meta-analysis to test whether there is, on average, a detrimental effect of urbanization based on baseline and stress-induced glucocorticoid levels of wild vertebrates. We found no effect of urbanization on glucocorticoid levels, and none of sex, season, life stage, taxon, size of the city nor methodology accounted for variation in the observed effect sizes. At face value, our results suggest that urban areas are no more stressful for wildlife than rural or non-urban areas, but we offer a few reasons why this conclusion could be premature. We propose that refining methods of data collection will improve our understanding of how urbanization affects the health and survival of wildlife.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress in the city: meta-analysis indicates no overall evidence for stress in urban vertebrates

et al. 2020

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“…At catch‐up point, lipid peroxidation was lower at 18:6 cycles, probably indicating the benefits (less ROS) of having activated the antioxidant machinery (Costantini, ). Alternatively, lower MDA levels may indicate a lower accumulation of fat reserves in larvae (Burraco, Iglesias‐Carrasco, Cabido, & Gomez‐Mestre, ; Pérez‐Rodríguez et al, ), reflected also in the positive relationship between MDA levels and body mass at this point.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metabolic costs of altered growth trajectories across life transitions in amphibians

Burraco

Valdés

Orizaola

2019

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Climate change is causing increases in temperature and in the frequency of extreme weather events. Under this scenario, organisms should maintain or develop strategies to cope with environmental fluctuations, such as the capacity to modify growth trajectories. However, altering growth can have negative consequences for organisms’ fitness. Here, we investigated the metabolic alterations induced by compensatory growth during the larval development of the common frog (Rana temporaria), quantifying changes in oxidative stress, corticosterone levels and telomere length. We induced compensatory growth responses by exposing frog embryos to cold conditions (i.e. a ‘false spring’ scenario), which cause a delay in hatching. Once hatched, we reared larvae at two different photoperiods (24:0, representing the natural photoperiod of larvae, and 18:6) to test also for the interactive effects of light on growth responses. Larvae experiencing delayed hatching showed fast compensatory responses and reached larger size at metamorphosis. Larvae shortened their developmental period in response to delayed hatching. Non‐permanent light conditions resulted in relaxed growth compared with larvae reared under permanent light conditions, which grew at their natural photoperiod and closer to their maximal rates. Growth responses altered the redox status and corticosterone levels of larvae. These physiological changes were developmental stage‐dependent and mainly affected by photoperiod conditions. At catch‐up, larvae reared at 18:6 light:dark cycles showed higher antioxidant activities and glucocorticoid secretion. On the contrary, larvae reared at 24:0 developed at higher rates without altering their oxidative status, likely an adaptation to grow under very restricting seasonal conditions at early life. At metamorphosis, compensatory responses induced higher cellular antioxidant activities probably caused by enhanced metabolism. Telomere length remained unaltered by experimental treatments but apparently tended to elongate across larval ontogeny, which would be a first evidence of telomere lengthening across metamorphosis. Under the forecasted increase in extreme climatic events, adjusting growth and developmental rates to the dynamics of environmental fluctuations may be essential for survival, but it can carry metabolic costs and affect later performance. Understanding the implications of such costs will be essential to properly estimate the impact of climate change on wild animals.

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“…, Burraco et al. ). Niche space opened by the loss of native consumers might facilitate invasion by consumers that are more tolerant to the conditions generated by invasive plant litter.…”

Section: Theme 6: the Interaction Between Litter Inputs And Human Actmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reviewing the role of plant litter inputs to forested wetland ecosystems: leafing through the literature

Stoler

Relyea

2020

Ecological Monographs

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The input of senescent terrestrial leaf litter into soil and aquatic ecosystems is one of the most massive cyclic subsidies on Earth, particularly within forested ecosystems. For freshwater systems embedded within forests, litter inputs provide a vital source of energy and nutrients that allows greater production than in situ resources can provide. In return, freshwater food webs can provide an enormous amount of material to the terrestrial landscape through biotic respiration, photosynthesis, and organism emergence. Most research concerning this important aquatic-terrestrial link has focused on lotic ecosystems (i.e., streams and rivers); far less attention has been given to its role in lentic systems (i.e., wetlands and lakes). A focus on small forested wetlands is particularly important, as these systems account for a disproportionate amount of global carbon flux relative to their spatial coverage, and the decomposition of leaf litter is a major contributor. Here, we review six themes: (1) the evidence for the role of leaf litter inputs as an ecologically important subsidy in forested wetlands; (2) the bottom-up effects of quantitative and qualitative variation in litter inputs; (3) how diversity in litter mixtures can alter ecological functioning; (4) evidence for top-down consequences of litter inputs through toxic effects on predators and parasites, and the alteration of predator-prey interactions; (5) the relevance of our review to other research fields by considering the role of litter inputs relative to other types of subsidies and environmental gradients (e.g., temperature, canopy cover, and hydrology); and (6) the interaction of litter subsidies with anthropogenic disturbances. We conclude by highlighting several high-priority research questions and providing suggestions for future research on the role of litter subsidies in freshwater ecosystems. 3: Effects of leaf litter mixingInsufficient evidence exists to determine the effects of mixing litter species on total litter decay rates.Higher trophic levels exhibit weak responses to increased litter diversity.Forested wetland food webs exhibit a stronger response to changes in average primary and secondary chemical attributes of litter mixtures relative to changes in litter species or chemical diversity.Sterner and Schulz (1998), Cohen et al. (2014), Stoler et al. (2016b) Consumers exhibit nonlinear responses to changes in litter species evenness.

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Eucalypt leaf litter impairs growth and development of amphibian larvae, inhibits their antipredator responses and alters their physiology

Cited by 22 publications

References 75 publications

Stress in the city: meta-analysis indicates no overall evidence for stress in urban vertebrates

Stress in the city: meta-analysis indicates no overall evidence for stress in urban vertebrates

Metabolic costs of altered growth trajectories across life transitions in amphibians

Reviewing the role of plant litter inputs to forested wetland ecosystems: leafing through the literature

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